1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of dishwashers and, more particularly, to a detergent dispenser for a dishwasher.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many dishwashers include a dispenser having a lid that swings open to release detergent at a specific time during a dishwasher cycle. The dispenser is often located on an interior side of a dishwasher door. While this position allows for convenient filling of the dispenser, large objects within the dishwasher may obstruct the opening of the dispenser lid. For example, if a utensil positioned in a silverware basket of the dishwasher is pressed against the dispenser door when it is set to open, the detergent will not be released such that the dishes will not be adequately cleaned.
To address this obstruction problem, it has been proposed to incorporate a lid shield into a dishwasher detergent dispenser to enable the dispenser lid to open even when an object is located in its path of movement. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,341 discloses a dishwasher detergent dispenser including a shield extending in front of a pivoting dispenser lid to ensure that an object within the washing chamber does not prevent the lid from freely moving from a closed position covering a detergent chamber to a dispensing position during a wash cycle. To accomplish this function, the shield includes a cross member and side legs which themselves are mounted for pivotal movement relative to a dispenser housing. With this arrangement, the dispenser lid can pivot, through a limited angular range, relative to the shield and then pivot further in unison with the shield. Unfortunately, this configuration still mandates a rather large angular movement of the lid to expose the detergent chamber and enable the pre-loaded detergent to be washed into a tub of the dishwasher. In addition, the structure and mounting of the shield of this prior art results in a rather elaborate and costly production configuration.
Based on the above, there exists a need to for a dishwasher detergent dispenser which is constructed in a manner which will assure that loaded detergent will be properly and timely dispensed during a washing operation, even when the dispenser lid is obstructed from even partially opening by an object within the washing chamber of the dishwasher.